Ms Erivan Mahdi, OHCHR Minority Fellow and Yazidi activist from Iraq, testified to the situation of the Yazidis in Iraq, a religious community that has since 2014 been subjected, together with other religious minorities, to what she described as a genocidal campaign by ISIS, which had among other things involved killing, sexual enslavement and forced displacement of thousands of Yazidis, Christians, Turkmens, Shabek and Shiite families. For a community such as the Yazidis, it is difficult to envisage their returning to areas where most of their neighbours have become ISIS followers. She suggested options to create an enabling environment that could ultimately secure a safe return. She suggested the creation of two autonomous provinces to allow religious minorities to manage their own affairs with the support of international community. Second, she recommended obtaining international funds to finance the reconstruction of infrastructure in the districts that had been liberated. She also urged for international recognition of the genocide that took place against the Yazidis and for the UN Security Council to refer the case to the International Criminal Court. She also called the international community to urge the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan region to prohibit hate speech. She called for the international coalition and other troops participating in the liberation of areas under control of ISIS to conduct military operations to liberate the remaining 3669 Yazidis at the hands of ISIS. Finally, she thanked the government of Germany for taking on survivors and urged them to extend their programme to the 1600 remaining survivors living in dire conditions in refugee camps. H.E. Dieudonné Cardinal Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui and President of Caritas Central African Republic, spoke on behalf of the platform of interfaith religion in central Africa, bringing together the chairs of the evangelical alliance, of the Islamic community and of the catholic community, to bring about peace and social cohesion and defend threatened minorities in the war torn Central African Republic. Pursuing the African oral tradition, he explained how they carried out awareness raising campaigns reaching out to women and young people and children, to help find solutions to the issues in the Central African Republic. He asserted that freedom of religion would be an essential aspect for sustainable peace in his country, as the rights of Christian minorities in the North and of the Muslim minority in the South would need to be guaranteed. Places of worship should, he said, be rebuilt so that everyone can live freely. Another important aspect to build peace would be to guarantee safe access to schools and university for minorities, as at the moment, some Muslim minorities did not feel safe to go to University in their own country. In addition, schools could train young people to help their country whatever their religion. He called on the international community to give attention to the situation in CAR, to contribute to efforts to disarm militias, and to help the people of CAR to become a country which enjoys its right to peace, happiness and development. Discussion During the discussion under item V, the following points were raised by participants: - A number of governments spoke of their efforts in assisting minorities in post crises context. 12